A visit from Hudson

Sunday morning. There is snow falling, but it's too warm, so we are basically having a slush event today.  It's a good day to stay inside and I need to work anyway. Get yourself a cup of coffee (or something better) and settle down somewhere because I have a lot of pictures to share from Hudson's visit yesterday afternoon.

Hudson is a young, energetic dog being fostered for Green Dogs by a friend whose own dogs are older and smaller. So Hudson drives them crazy and needs an outlet for his endless energy. He came for a second visit on Saturday to make use of our personal dog park, the pasture.

In addition to Hudson, we have Della, Serena, Madison, and Theo. Later I brought out the new rottie boy, Lando, who really hit it off with Hudson.

Madison, Hudson, and Della bringing up the rear.

Della checking out the new kid, Hudson.

Madison and Hudson

Theo just wanted to play ball, of course, and we did.

Serena stealing Theo's ball and running off with it. Theo is such a good dog that he does

not fight her for it. He knows she has a short attention span and will soon drop it and

move on to something else. Plus, there are multiple balls around out there now.

Serena and Madison

Hudson and Della

Hudson is fast, but Della showed him that she was faster. She gave him a good run.

Della, my beautiful cowdog

Hudson would occasionally run with Theo but he was just interested in the run, not the ball.

Madison giving Hudson a run through the tall grass.

Madison has really come out of her shell in the last few days. She now follows me around

everywhere, she comes upstairs, she sleeps in the bedroom, and today she ran and played

out in the pasture like I've never seen her do before. She will come up to any available person

and do the "Dane sit and lean", sucking up all the petting and attention she can get.

Madison is sort of running into and jumping over Hudson to get out of the

way of Della and Serena who were taking off on a run.

Hudson has no idea what to do here.

Sorry, Hudson, you must be at least this tall to ride this ride.

Madison ran with Hudson, rolled him a few times. Partly it was play, partly discipline.

Madison and Hudson

Theo, Madison, and Hudson

Serena does like to grab that ball by the rope and run with it.

Della, waiting for Serena to finish with that stupid ball already and play with her instead.

Theo and his ball

Lando meeting Hudson

It didn't take them long to figure this out and start to play.

Hudson and Lando, with Theo

Della supervising Lando and Hudson

Lando is a good looking rottie.

The two boys played well together.

Serena doesn't play much with other dogs. She's either doing her own thing, with the ball or 

hunting through the trees, or she plays with Della.

I never get tired of seeing these girls play.

Saturday belonged to Summer

Saturday was a busy day around here. We had another visit from Hudson and a lot of play time in the pasture. I have enough pictures for two or three blog posts, but the highlight of the day was Summer being adopted. 

A couple from northern Virginia drove down here arriving shortly after 5:00 p.m., anxious and excited to meet her. They brought their male rottie, Bruno, along to meet Summer. He had been a wild child as well when he was rescued, so they weren't put off by her energy level. They liked her sweetness and they overlooked the dried mud on her belly. They have a great fenced yard for the two dogs to play and work off some of that energy.

She's the product of a backyard breeder, a do-it-yourself tail bob, and poor nutrition and care,

but she does have a nice Rottweiler stance and a lean, muscular build.

Bruno, on the right, had a similar upbringing and energy level when he was rescued.

He's about two years old now, a good age to take on and teach a younger one like Summer.

Summer was more interested in him than he was in her, but they got along well enough.

This is the obligatory family photo picture, which I've cropped to focus on just the dogs.

If you've been around Erika when she takes pictures, you know the sound she makes to 

get the dogs to look at her. It's an other worldly sort of high pitched trill, but it works like a charm

for its intended purpose of getting dogs to look at her as she's taking their picture. 

The two rotties immediately stared directly at her with a WTF look on their faces.

Friday

The new rottie boy is Lando, (left). He was good indoors in the crate last night

and he's been good out in Daneland with Summer today. They are both rather 

food aggressive so I'm feeding one inside and one outside. Lando learned to use

the doggie door very quickly. He seems like a very nice boy. 

He's only nine months old, but she's still more energetic. I think he'd like her better

and play with her more if she'd take about 20% off her intensity level.

Summer is clearly very glad to have him.

In the afternoon I took Della and Maya out for a walk at Pleasant Grove.

Della spotted some young people running and went on high alert. 

You can still see that place on her forehead where that growth was removed.

I'm very glad it have it gone.

I'm pretty sure her eyes can emit laser beams, but so far at least that common piece of 

Republican trash known as Marjorie Taylor Greene hasn't blamed her for any forest fires.

My mother's pug, Jake, has settled into his new life in Montana. My sister said that it's been

a dry year so far, but they may be getting their first big snow soon. 

A rottie playmate

Summer needed a pet of her own. None of the Danes will really play with her, even when she asks very nicely. This new boy came up, a nine month old male rottweiler, and I agreed to take him in, mostly so Summer would have a like-minded, same speed, playmate.

He's representative of a phenomena that we expect to see more of, the COVID pups. Everyone is at home, kids, parents, good time to get a puppy, right? Yes, but like Christmas pups, they do grow up. If they don't get adequate training, they become large, rowdy creatures, another teenager essentially, that mom and dad don't have time or patience for. 

This boy is nice, rottweiler sweet, but he needs some work. You can see in the pictures his tendency to jump, but it's just because he doesn't know any better and like a typical rottweiler, he craves contact and attention. 

He got home just as it was getting dark so he met Summer but I didn't get much in the way of pictures. I plan to give them Daneland during the days, and they will both come inside to crates in the kitchen at night. I guess I'll rename it Rottweiler World for now. His name is still to be determined. He was born on May the 4th, so a Star Wars themed name seems appropriate. Suggestions are welcome.

Snow and Sun

I've been pretty busy learning how to do my new job this week, but today I took a half hour and walked out to the pasture with the dogs. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, and warm enough to do a lot of melting, at least on anything exposed to the sun. 

Madison is relaxing and joining in the fun. She doesn't really like to come upstairs. She stays downstairs when she has the choice, but I insist that she come up at night and she comes into the bedroom with the rest of the pack. She comes to me for attention and affection, she runs with her tail held up, and knows to go out to Daneland at meal times. She's a really nice dog even if she isn't an instant bond, velcro sort. She may be eventually, but she needs some time to build up trust. 

Summer is a much different dog now that she's a week past her surgery and is spending the days outdoors. She gets the edge worn off her hyper energy level and when she comes in, she is very happy to go right into her crate. She found a Kong somewhere around the house and has adopted that as her pacifier. I need to start giving her more freedom and time indoors, but I'm just happy that she's not bouncing off the walls like she was in the beginning. Summer really loved the pasture run and probably covered more ground than any two of the other dogs combined.

Theo, always happy when he's carrying or chasing a ball.

Madison, look at that black rear leg, it extends up to her back.

Madison explored the pasture, sometimes with Della, sometimes on her own,

but she would periodically come running to me to check in.

Max

Theo (with ball), Max, and Summer (rottie). I believe that Dane down the hill is Della.

Della

Della and Serena playing

Max posing with ball

Serena

Summer really liked the big red balls and there were enough for everyone out there who wanted one.

Here's Madison with a nice happy smile as she's coming towards me.

Madison in front, Della behind her.

Max